just an ordinary goddess…

I’ve said many times that working at JPL is a truly fantabulous thing for me. I’ve been here for just over two years now and I still sometimes feel the need to pinch my arm and confirm, yes, it is real. It still feels like I’ve only been here a couple of months.

So yes, working here is terribly exciting for me. But it can also be sobering.

The lobby of the building in which I work has been home to a few exhibits. A scale model of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recently graced the lobby and, until this morning, a scale model of the Phoenix sat in the roped off area, gold foil glinting in fluorescent lighting. This morning the Phoenix exhibit was removed and a new one took its place: the Shuttle Columbia Safety Exhibit, which is not open to the public but has been touring the various NASA space centers.

I took a walk around the exhibit, looking at the nine pieces of the Columbia that were displayed in the case - some pieces fairly large, others on the smallish side. Taking in the remnants of that disaster, there in front of me, reminded me that, no matter how thrilled I am about my workplace, there are very real dangers in what many people in the space business do. Reading the names of those killed in the explosion, along with the victims of Apollo 1 and the Challenger and feeling the faint rise of tears in my eyes made those dangers fresh again, however briefly.

I wish I could share photos of the exhibit, but NASA has requested that we not do so, to honor the families of the Columbia crew and I will honor that request. But pictures aren’t needed to remember.

Official accounts of the exhibit: Reid Center and Johnson Center.

…to CuteFilmNerd. He has now joined me in being the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. And in tribute to this auspicious occasion, a few YouTube videos of a couple of his favorite movies:

THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI and TIME AFTER TIME, two movies we bonded over in our early emails:

CuteFilmNerd is a lover of movies in general (hence my nickname for him on this blog), but he especially loves cult movies such as CARNIVAL OF SOULS…

…as well as PIRANHA:

I love you, honey. Have a fantastic birthday!

Well, that was a fun ride. Working on the 7th floor of a fairly narrow building, so I felt the 5.4 earthquake pretty strongly, though not enough to actually interrupt the work day. CuteFilmNerd felt it in his neck of the woods, closer to mid-Wilshire - first moderately strong earthquake he’s ever felt since moving to L.A. in 2001. And I imagine that Stan’s office is a bit busy at the moment.

Having experienced the 1994 Northridge earthquake first hand and seen a lot of buildings I was very familiar with damaged or destroyed (my formative high school years were spent in the area and I worked near the Northridge Mall for over seven years, leaving the area less than a year before), this one didn’t seem near as bad, but it certainly served to remind folks that another one is just waiting in the wings.

Ah, the joy that is Southern California…

…round the internets these days, as CuteFilmNerd and I will be seeing The Dark Knight this weekend and I really don’t want to be spoiled for anything. I’ve heard mostly all good things about it, which is all I need to know. But man, I am excited. Whee! Plus we’ll be checking out a Monty Python double feature (Holy Grail and Life of Brian, neither of which I’ve seen on the big screen), so I’m going to be a pleased lil’ film goer this weekend. Whee!

As for other stuff, well, I’ve not written a whole hell of a lot recently, but that’s because a whole hell of a lot hasn’t been happening. Things are pretty status quo in my neck of the woods. Still working at JPL and loving it, still working on getting my financial situation under control. CuteFilmNerd and I are still chugging along, loving each other while trying to work through our respective issues, especially as we seem to be at that point in our relationship where we’re discovering what each other’s sensitive points are. And as I seem to have turned into an over-sensitive girl who gets annoyed/pissed off/pouty all too easily, I end up making CuteFilmNerd feeling like a bad boyfriend when, in truth, he’s a pretty good boyfriend and I’m happy he’s in my life. So I do what I can to make up for it and he accepts my attempts. It’s not endearing by any stretch of the imagination, I realize that, but we’re working on it.

Life isn’t perfect, since we both come with our fair share of baggage and, truth to tell, we probably met at exactly the wrong time for both of us. But we’ve been together for over four months now, still definitely in love, not to mention just liking the hell out of each other because each of us thinks the other is a pretty cool human being. So we’re going to continue to work on our relationship as best as we can. Because we really, really want to be together.

So that’s about it in my life.

…for leaving up such diabetic coma inducing photos at the top for so long. I hope no one needed a quick trip to the emergency room over the last few weeks.

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My dear friend Polarbeast has a wonderful new site which y’all MUST check out, especially if you’re a diner in the Los Angeles area: Dining in L.A. He’s always been an excellent writer, but his reviews of some of his and his wife’s favorite haunts are truly stellar. As it was his descriptions of area restaurants in his rarely updated blog that helped put us back in contact with one another (he and his wife are old high school friends of mine and he used to work around the corner from me in West Hollywood), I’m especially happy to see the new site. Especially since he’s as fond of a favorite restaurant of CuteFilmNerd and myself as we are: Green Leaves Vegan in Los Feliz.

Check out both the site and the restaurant. You’ll be happy that you did.

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A number of entertainment legends have died over the last couple of weeks: Bo Diddley, Dick Martin, Sydney Pollack and Harvey Korman. Each and every one of these deaths make me a little bit sadder than the one before, especially Sydney Pollack and Harvey Korman. But three other legends in the world of science fiction television have also left this earth: Alexander Courage, Bob Justman and Joseph Pevney - all associated with Star Trek, one of the most formative television shows in my life, as well as the lives of many others.

I can safely say that, were it not for the talents of each of these gentlemen, I daresay my life may have turned out rather different. But it was Joseph Pevney’s contributions as director of several of my favorite episodes (”Amok Time,” “City on the Edge of Forever,” “Journey to Babel”) that affected me the most, especially that episode that started it all for a shy thirteen year old girl: “The Trouble with Tribbles.” I initially watched it because William Schallert (aka Nancy Drew’s dad) was in it, but it was the writing, casting and, of course, direction of the episode that kept me coming back for more.

Fare thee well, gentlemen, each and every one of you. You and your talents will all be sorely missed.